Dance Dance Revolution Extreme

"This is my 1st exposure to the DDR series A.K.A "SF II of Musical Games" and while its not great its good nevertheless."

Ah yes I'm sure you've all heard the tale of Konami's successful attempt to revive (albeit temporarily) the Arcade Industry with the now World-famous musical game known as "Dance Dance Revolution". One of the many innovative arcade games to come from Japan into the Arcades of the world. The simple game of timing your feet stomping in a dance pad while a song loudly blares in from the good people from Konami. And let me tell you now that to all you DDR fans whom decided to read this review anyways well if you are already a fan then the chances of you loving it will be just fine. However for those whom are more... "Casual" to these games now that might be a different story.

The graphics are VERY average to best and the "instructions segment" they give you before you start playing is decent but substandard. However one of the biggest & of coure most important aspects in a game such as this is obviously music so how does it fare here? Well... that depends... Are you a big fan of J-Pop? (Japanese Pop Music?) If so then don't worry this game will suit you JUST fine when it comes to that. However if your not then this game might not suit you all that well. Now don't get me wrong the music selection in this game in general is certainly not BAD its just mainly fans for its genre only. Now I have a question to ask you and my question is this... Are you a fan of the famous British Rock Band known as Queen of "Bohemian Rhapsody" fame? If so then good news a couple of their more known songs are in here too. (Namely "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions".) While I admit those two songs are not my absolute favorite ones from Queen, but they defintely do fit in with the game just fine. Though I must tell you know that they are being sung by J-Pop singers (and the one whom sings "We Are the Champions" is a woman). Now that might get some fans of the legendary band to be concerned. Well don't worry cause both reinditions came out surprisingly quite well. (Though on the other hand its not TOO surprising since Queen does have a good fanbase in Japan ever since they performed there in the 1970's.) So in anothers I can defintely assure you that Konami is most defintely NOT seemingly urinating on the late great Freddie Mercury's grave as we speak.

One thing I must give you all a Cautionary Warning on you it might be your instigator yet it could be your aggravtor. (Oh and its no Spaced Invader) Okay bad jokes about John "WhiteSnake" Sykes aside the game is indeed challenging. (Even in the "Beginner" mode.) And as for Responsiveness you ask? It generally works alright BUT it does not always respond well so do be careful. And overall when it comes to the DDR games it just doesn't really seem all that innovative either.

So overall this is just simply another textbook example of a game that is basically "Great for Fans but pretty good at best for everyone else". And fortunately unlike a mass majority of the other arcade games I review its actually quite easy to find. However I will have to state that Konami has most defintely made MUCH better Arcade games in the past. Its most certainly not a terrible example of a Arcade Game but its not exactly one of Konami's absolutly finest moments either.

+ DDR has been known for a intense experience in Arcades and this one is no execption.
+ Fans of DDR and music games in general would most likely not be disappointed at all
+ The "Fully English J-Pop" renditions of Queen Classics "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" are surprisingly very good
+ Even though I didn't love this game I would most likely play it in a Arcade than any one of the consoles
+ VERY easy to find
- Aside from the good renditions of Queen songs the rest of the game's song library is not bad but its mainly for fans of J-Pop only
- Sub-par Graphics
- Responsiveness is not always perfect and the challenge factor is awfully high (even on beginner mode)
- Nothing really innovative here
- Konami has done better

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/09/04